I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 107

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 107

In truth, Sherry didn’t receive favorable opinions from the maids of the other separate houses.
She quarreled with the Head Butler to secure more provisions, took initiative in tasks she deemed unreasonable, and boldly accomplished what others couldn’t—and she was merely a maid of Stone House, no less. The audacity of it.
‘That’s what they must be thinking. Even that Head Maid of Sapphire House.’
How amusing.
“Can’t afford it?”
The Head Maid of Sapphire House, meeting my gaze, continued speaking with confidence.
“Miss Berry, you may not be aware, but these shoes are a luxury brand product. They are not shoes that a maid of Stone House could afford.”
Her tone carried subtle contempt. I looked down at the shoes. The Head Maid of Sapphire House was someone vain enough to flaunt wearing expensive branded shoes while performing her duties as a maid.
“How much are they?”
“1.2 million Cona.”
“Oh my. I think you bought these by mistake!”
“…Pardon?”
Glance. Glance.
At my words, eyes kept drifting toward the Head Maid’s shoes. Though she pretended otherwise, everyone on the First Floor was already eavesdropping on our conversation.
“I’ve seen the exact same shoes being sold in Hisport Town that Maid Sister wears!”
“…That can’t be.”
“No, it’s different. That shoe brand doesn’t exist in Hisport Town.”
“How would Calips know that?”
At my question, Calips extended his foot forward. Calips was also wearing shoes of the same brand. The outer side of his shoe bore a metal ornament engraved with a spiral pattern, and within the pattern were four lines.
“I go there often.”
“Is that so? I must have been mistaken then. The pattern looked identical so I thought they were the same. But the ones I saw at that shop had three lines, which is strange—.”
“I shall bring you something to drink.”
The Head Maid of Sapphire House interjected hastily at my words. But Calips had already heard what I said.
“Three lines? How fitting for the lowest grade. Where did you see a counterfeit? Next time, look more carefully. Four lines are the genuine ones.”
“I see. No wonder it was so cheap!”
“Young Master Calips. Perhaps you should return to your room now….”
“What? I’m having a conversation with a direct family member. Are you my teacher?”
“…I apologize.”
Under Calips’s cold gaze, the Head Maid of Sapphire House bit her lower lip and lowered her head.
The atmosphere froze in an instant. It was a sight rarely seen in Stone House, but commonplace in Sapphire House. A place where the line between those bearing the Trabel name and those who didn’t was starkly drawn.
“Be careful next time. I’m already irritated enough by the teachers Mother assigned—.”
Calips, who had been complaining as usual, stopped mid-sentence. Then he gazed intently at the Head Maid’s shoes. More precisely, at the gold-plated ornament with the spiral pattern.
The Head Maid’s foot flinched and moved backward. Calips called out to me.
“…Hey, Berry.”
“Yes?”
“How much were those shoes?”
“49,999 Cona!”
“….”
The Head Maid of Sapphire House’s face flushed at my words, her head bowing. Her clasped hands trembled anxiously, fingers fidgeting.
Calips grasped my shoulder and pulled me slightly toward him, then pointed at the Head Maid of Sapphire House’s shoes.
“You said they’re identical to those, right? Then don’t buy them.”
“Why? They’re pretty.”
“They’re cheap counterfeits.”
With that, as if nothing had happened, he suggested we go study and moved on. The Head Maid of Sapphire House stood rigid, trembling violently. Behind us came the soft, stifled laughter of the servants.
I’d embarrassed her far more than I’d intended. I hadn’t expected Calips to deliver such a cutting remark.
‘Still….’
I glanced at the ribbon tied in my hair and felt my lips curl upward.
‘How satisfying!’

***

Mariane’s jewelry shop in Hisport Town.
“Are you out of your mind?”
Mariane, gripping the edge of the desk in the Manager’s Office and taking a deep breath, rebuked her husband as he locked the door and entered.
She’d suppressed her seething anger throughout the carriage ride, mindful of the coachman’s ears.
“Why on earth did you steal Julia Quartz’s jewelry box that Brown had?”
The theft itself wasn’t the problem.
“You said you watched him write it in the ledger!”
The fact that Brown had last possessed the jewelry box remained recorded—that was the issue.
Julia’s belongings were kept in the room she’d used, and to borrow any of her possessions, one had to inform the Head Butler of the Main Estate and have the date, name, and item description recorded in the ledger.
And that day, Edgar had clearly seen Brown emerge with the jewelry box and write it in the ledger. He’d happened to encounter Brown while visiting the Butler’s Office on an errand.

“What do you intend to do with the jewelry box? Does it contain precious metals?”
“Ha. I don’t know what’s inside. There’s no key, so I couldn’t open it. The craftsman who made it said he’d take a look, so I thought I’d bring it to him.”
“I’m quite curious now. The Second Madam always said there were valuables inside the jewelry box, didn’t she? Still, you must return the contents as well. The Count said to give Brown whatever he wants from the Second Madam’s belongings, but I must see what’s inside before handing it over.”
“Head Butler. If I don’t return, assume I’ve departed for another country. I intend to live out my remaining years as a wealthy man, no less than the Trabel Family.”
“If Young Master Reytan, who is on the battlefield, hears of this, his eyes will turn red as he rushes to find you.”

Amid the jokes the Head Butler and Brown exchanged with laughter, Edgar smiled awkwardly.
Brown Quartz. A man who harbored no resentment despite being unable to register himself in the Trabel Family records, yet here he was speaking as though a mere jewelry box would transform his entire life. The jest didn’t feel like a jest at all.
“I must have lost my mind….”
Against my will, my gaze kept drifting toward the jewelry box. The lock mechanism wasn’t even of a standard design. At that level, I felt certain a skilled locksmith I knew could open it.
The jewelry box now in the hands of Brown, whom the direct Trabel lineage treated like a fool. And something precious enough to allow one to dream of a life-changing fortune.
“I said I’d stay a night at the inn on the way to bring the jewelry box to its maker. When I asked why, he said he had family business in that area…. But that wasn’t my intention from the start! I merely stopped by the inn to pay my respects while passing through, but Brown wasn’t in the room—only the jewelry box was there….”
“Edgar Presto Trabel!”
Bang! Mariane slammed her hand on the desk. All the jewelry shops she owned had perfect soundproofing in the manager’s office. She had designed it so that no sound exchanged within would leak outside.
“Did you think I came all this way to listen to your excuses for theft?”
“M-Mariane….”
“You took Brown Quartz’s belongings—that’s the problem! And it had to be on the very day Brown died!”
Mariane clenched her fists. Seven years ago, Reytan had scoured the surroundings like a madman, determined to find whoever had killed his brother. There was no witness to prove it wasn’t an accident, nor anyone identified as a suspect. Watching Reytan’s ominous blue eyes, Mariane had thought to herself.

‘If he finds them, he’ll kill them.’

Thirteen years ago, on the day sixteen-year-old Reytan returned alive from a carriage accident. Nineteen-year-old Mariane felt an instinctive terror in those eyes. The eyes of a beast that had learned how to shed the muzzle that once restrained its sharp fangs.
The carriage that had the accident was supposed to have carried Julia Quartz Trabel.
Seven years ago, when Brown was lost, Reytan had worn those eyes again. Only then did Mariane understand. What turned Reytan into a beast was the death of ‘Quartz’—Julia and Brown.
In other circumstances, he had behaved like a madman, but never like a beast with eyes gone wild. This was also why Mariane never directly touched Reytan’s daughter.
Money, honor, jewels, power.
After losing one’s life, all of it becomes meaningless.
“…Hasn’t Reytan looked into the jewelry box?”
He surely must have. He would have checked the ledgers, certainly found the whereabouts of the jewelry box. There was no way Edgar, who possessed the jewelry box, didn’t know that fact.
“By good fortune, a fire broke out at the inn…. He believes it was lost or remains buried in the collapsed mines—”
“Have you opened the jewelry box?”
“It won’t open no matter what we try…. The locksmith gave up….”
“Dispose of it. That jewelry box.”
At Mariane’s resolute words, Edgar panicked. The reason he hadn’t disposed of the jewelry box in seven years, despite his anxiety, was simple. Its contents. Jewels capable of transforming a life.
“M-Mariane.”
“Do you think I’m desperately building achievements to die at Reytan’s hands?”
“But—”
“For seven years, there was no problem keeping it. But now Father is trying to find the jewelry box. If it’s discovered that you possess it, Edgar, you become the sole suspect. I might even be implicated as an accomplice.”
“N-No, wait!”
Mariane, who had been grinding her teeth in frustration, slowly turned around. Edgar squeezed his eyes shut and opened his mouth. He wasn’t accustomed to voicing opposition to Mariane. Mariane asked him.
“What is it?”
“A-A suspect! I saw someone! So the jewelry box….”
“Ha.”
Mariane scoffed at her husband. Perhaps she should bury him along with the real jewelry box.
Still, if he saw something, she should at least hear it. That way, when the beast comes at her, she’ll have bait to throw.
“Tell me what you saw.”

***

“Hey.”
Calips, who had been teaching me my studies, furrowed his brow.
“What?”
“…Let’s take a ten-minute break.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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